Streaked rattlepod (Crotalaria pallida)

Kuku renteng or streaked rattlepod or chique chique or giant striata (Crotalaria pallida) are flowering plant species in the Fabaceae family, annual perennial shrubs or short-lived, up to 1.5 m high with woody stems, hairy and have longitudinal grooves.

C. pallida has leaves with a trifoliate structure with 2-8.5 cm long stems, 3-13x2–5 cm wide and elliptical. Flowers are yellow or reddish brown and appear on stems 15-40 cm long, each of which consists of 20-30 flowers.

Fruits are pod shaped and measure 3-5x0.6-0.8 cm, each of which has 30-40 seeds that are heart shaped and measuring 3x2 mm, shiny and dark brown. The pods are green and brown when ripe, then dry and fall to carry water.

Kuku renteng grows wildly around rice fields, untreated lands and seasonal wet environments. This plant is favored by many flying insects including great eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina), chocolate grass yellow (Eurema sari), kismo bee (Xylocopa aestuans) and Javanese grasshopper (Valanga nigricornis).

Streaked rattlepod is widely used as ground cover and is processed as green manure. Flowers are eaten as vegetables and seeds baked to be used as a kind of coffee drink in Cambodia. Roots are chewed with areca nut in Vietnam.

C. pallida is also widely applied in traditional medicine to treat urinary problems and reduce fever, the roots are used to treat joint swelling and leaf extract to expel intestinal worms.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Spermatophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Dicotyledonae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Crotalaria

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a species of plant in the Poaceae, an annual grass, sharp leaves, long and scaly shoots, creeping underground, white or purplish flowers, very adaptive and grows in all climates. I. cylindrica has sharply pointed shoot tips that emerge from the ground, up to 3 meters high, short stems, rising above the ground surface. Leaves are long ribbon-shaped, pointed tip, narrow base, up to 100 cm long, very rough and sharply serrated edges, long hairs at the base and wide veins. Inflorescences in panicles, up to 28 cm long, spikes long-haired and white to 1 cm. The seeds spread quickly with the wind or via rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. This species grows in tropical to subtropical areas, elevation up to 2000 meters, temperature 20-40C, rainfall 500-3500 mm/year, pH 4-7.5, lots of sunlight to a bit of shade. This plant dominates open land, former forests, dry rice fields, roadsides and so on. This plant contains mannitol, glucose, sacharose...

Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica)

Liberian coffee ( Coffea liberica ) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family, a tree up to 20 meters tall, with numerous, radial and irregular branches, brown bark, and linear fissures. The leaves are oval, thick, up to 35 cm long, up to 20 cm long, shiny green, and have petioles up to 1 cm long. The fruit is round to oval, irregular, and up to 2 cm wide. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Gentianales Family: Rubiaceae Subfamily: Ixoroideae Tribe: Coffeeae Genus: Coffea L. in Sp. Pl.: 172 (1753) Species: Coffea liberica W.Bull in Nursery Cat. (William Bull) 97: 4 (1874) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Coffea abeokutae Cramer in Meded. Dept. Landb. Ned.-Indië 11: 286, 396 (1913) Coffea abeokutae var. camerunensis A.Chev. in Encycl. Biol. 22: t. 44 (1942) Coffea abeokutae var. indeniensis (Siebert) A.Chev. (1942) Coffea abeokutae var. longicarpa Portères in Ann. Agric. Afrique Occ. 1(2): 224 (1937) Coffea abeokutae var. macrocarpa...

A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis...

Dlium